A Challenge to Celebrities: On Camera with no make-up

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Out of concern, mostly for people's psychological health, I'd love to see the start of a movement where Celebrities start going without make-up in front of the camera. Maybe Oprah should be the first since this idea may be right up her alley. I don't know, I'm thinking maybe "Reality Week" or "No Make Up Week" where a bunch of shows, programs and the like encourage their reporters, actors, etc to go on without make up. One week in a year for all of us to get a dose of reality to be able to recenter our perceptions, especially our unhealthy mind-body-appearance connections that may be off a bit.

Just watching TV, we are probably unconsciously overloaded by an outpouring of "fake faces" and "fake beauty". You all know how no one on TV or movies has a single pore visible. How about uneven skin? Forget about it! It's all even-toned, glowing skin, with layers of make-up covering about 20 years of the natural aging process, including wrinkles, sagging, lines, spots, scars, and on and on.

It's unhealthy, not only for adults, but especially for children. Most kids aren't able to make the connection that what they are watching is skewed, not till they are at least 6 or 7 years old at the earliest. That's years of TV without understanding that those people certainly don't really look like that! The trouble comes when these kids are older; we are already so open to TV and take it without judgments, it can form serious insecurities in us all.

That's why I also encourage parents to start talking to children early so that they recognize these things, it can help, especially during their traumatic years as teenagers. A dose of accurate perception of one's self and the world is a healthy antidote to the forces out there that make us all feel inadequate. Hey, I don't anticipate "No Make Up Week" anytime soon, so hopefully we can just be more aware of the damage it can do unless we are well aware (at the earliest of ages) to how unrepresentative the figures on TV are!

Okay, that's my drivel that I had to just get off my chest! Hope this posting finds you all well!

P.S. If you want just do a search for "celebrities without make up" and you'll find lots of pics, it may also be a good tool to illustrate to kids, just how "off" the images on the small or big screen are from reality. I could name a bunch of sites that have these pics, but, unfortunately, they are out for the shock value. I don't want to promote that! Those pics should be used for realization purposes, not making fun of people, whether famous or not.

2 comments

Those photos catch celebs on the worst situations, their either shouting or yelling or yawning, their determined to show them with a bad side. Celebs are not non-human, just because they make a lot of money doesn't mean their skin is going to be different. People Magazine had a photo shoot with stars without make-up, like Rashida Jones and Zoe Saldana. They looked the same, even better without it. Great Topic Dr. David.

You are spot on with this. To carry your point further, I'd like to see a "No Photoshop Year." If you think a lot can be done with make-up, take a look at this great before and after example of Faith Hill. (Sorry the link is so long...)